It is known to provide child safety barriers which are removably located in an opening of a doorway, stairway and/or the like to prevent a child or animal from going through the opening when the barrier is fitted and in a closed position. The barriers typically include a frame which is fitted to the side walls defining the opening, and a gate or barrier which is hingedly or slidably mounted to the frame for movement between open and closed positions.
In order to ensure that the child safety barriers are not accidentally opened by a young child, some conventional gates require a user to exert a substantially vertical lifting force to an upper portion of the gate prior to opening the gate. The position of where the lifting force is to be exerted on the gate is considered out of reach for a young child, and the required lifting force sufficiently large to prevent a young child from opening the gate. However, a problem with such gates is that a user can accidentally apply a twisting or horizontal force in addition to the lifting force when opening the gate and this can damage the hinges of the gate since the hinges are not designed to undergo such angular movement. As such, the gate may be prevented from opening and closing smoothly over time due to hinge damage, and any latch mechanism provided on the gate may become out of alignment with the latch retaining means to prevent correct latching of the gate in a closed position.
An example of a known child safety barrier allowing a degree of movement to take place in a plane parallel to the gate, as well as vertically, is disclosed in GB2268210. A lower hinge on the gate is mounted in a horizontal slot which allows for some movement of the gate in a plane parallel to the gate. However, the upper hinge on the gate may still sustain damage over time despite a degree of horizontal movement being allowed in the lower hinge.